3 . Mark it in your calendars now, so you don’t show up to work an hour early on Monday. Daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday of November every year in Canada. Most Canadians will turn their clocks back an hour, giving adults an extra hour of sleep and making the next couple of weeks a bit unpleasant for parents of young children. Those living in Yukon, most of Saskatchewan, and some parts of B.C. and Quebec don’t have to do anything, as they stay on standard time year-round.
Daylight saving time was first proposed in 1895 by New Zealand entomologist George Hudson. He proposed the change because it would allow him more daylight hours to find and inspect insects. The first documented cases of daylight saving being adopted in the world happened right here in Canada. The small towns of Port Arthur and Fort William—which would eventually merge to become Thunder Bay, Ont.—adopted daylight saving on May 1, 1908. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary were the first international countries to enact daylight saving time in 1916, as a way to save coal and fuel during the First World War.
The changing of the clocks has been a topic of debate in Canada for many years, with provincial politicians in Alberta, B. C. and Ontario wanting to scrap the century-old practice. Ontario tabled and unanimously passed a private member’s bill called the Time Amendment Act in 2020. Alberta had a referendum on the idea to rid it last year, and just over half of those who voted wanted to keep daylight saving time.
The idea behind the clock shift is to maximize sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere, as days start to lengthen in the spring and then fade in the fall. But the benefits of this change are controversial, and the shift can have measurable impacts on health. Canadian researchers warn that daylight saving, and switching the clocks twice a year, can contribute to a phenomenon known as “social jet lag,” where people suffer from disrupted sleep and sleep debt, mental and physical fatigue, and more.
1. What can we learn about daylight saving time in Canada?
| A．It always gives adults an extra hour of sleep. |
| B．It ends on the first Sunday every November. |
| C．Most Canadians will turn their clocks forward an hour. |
| D．People living in Yukon need to change their clock time. |
2. Why did George Hudson propose daylight saving time?
| A．Because he wanted to save fossil energy. |
| B．Because he wanted to make it a documented case. |
| C．Because he attempted to carry it out in Thunder Bay, Ont. |
| D．Because he attempted to spend more time on insect inspection. |
3. What do the underlined word “scrap” mean in paragraph 3?
| A．Improve. | B．Begin. | C．Cancel. | D．Evaluate. |
4. According to the last paragraph, what impact may the clock shift have?
| A．To lift one’s spirits. | B．To increase productivity. |
| C．To cause sleeping problems. | D．To decrease sufferings. |
